JP6424098B2 - Equipment control system - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a device control system that controls the operation of a device.

  As is well known in the art, many vehicles are equipped with an electronic key system that wirelessly transmits an electronic key ID from the electronic key to the vehicle and performs ID verification with the electronic key (for example, Patent Documents). 1 etc.). In this type of electronic key system, a key operation-free system that periodically transmits a request from a vehicle transmitter and performs ID verification (smart verification) in the vehicle on the electronic key ID transmitted by the electronic key as a response to the request. There is. If this ID collation is established, for example, the locking / unlocking of the vehicle door is permitted or executed, or the engine starting operation is permitted.

JP 2005-262915 A

  By the way, for example, by providing a reservation unlock button on the electronic key and operating the reservation unlock button when leaving the vehicle, the technology for opening the vehicle door when returning to the vehicle next time is available. It is being considered. However, in the case of this technique, it is necessary to separately operate the reservation unlock button when leaving the vehicle, so that there is a problem that this operation is troublesome.

  The objective of this invention is providing the apparatus control system which can perform operation | movement of an apparatus simply.

  The device control system for solving the above problem is capable of communicating with the communication target in addition to the ID verification between the communication target and the electronic key in the configuration for controlling the operation of the device provided for the communication target of the electronic key. A tag information acquisition unit that executes communication with a tag to acquire tag information related to the operation of the device from the tag, and when the device based on the tag information is operated on the condition that the ID verification is established, In preparation for automatically operating the device, a reservation execution unit is provided for making a reservation for the operation of the device.

  According to this configuration, in addition to wireless ID collation between the communication target and the electronic key, communication is performed with the tag, and tag information related to the operation of the device is acquired from the tag. Then, the device is operated based on the tag information, and a reservation is made in advance for the operation of the device in preparation for the operation of the device thereafter. For this reason, the next time the device is to be activated, the device automatically starts operating by the set reservation function. Therefore, since it is not necessary to impose a separate operation on the user regarding the operation of the device, it is possible to easily operate the device.

  In the device control system, the reservation execution unit is provided in the communication target, and reserves the operation of the device by wirelessly switching the electronic key to a reservation mode. When performing ID collation with the communication target by radio, if the device itself is in the reservation mode, the ID collation is performed by transmitting an operation request of the device to be reserved to the communication target by radio. It is preferable to automatically operate the device under the established conditions. According to this configuration, since the operation reservation of the device is realized by putting the electronic key in the reservation mode, it is not necessary to impose a heavy load on the communication target when setting the operation reservation.

  In the device control system, it is preferable that the communication target is a vehicle, the device is a door of the vehicle, and the operation of the device is an opening operation of the door. According to this configuration, it is possible to reserve the opening operation of the vehicle door, and thus it is possible to ensure the convenience when opening the vehicle door.

  In the device control system, it is preferable that the communication target and the electronic key perform the ID collation through a narrow-range wireless, and the tag communicates with the communication target through a short-range wireless. According to this configuration, since communication for ID verification and tag communication are different types of communication, the communication does not interfere with the other party.

  The device control system preferably includes a reservation canceling unit that cancels the reservation set by the reservation executing unit when a specific operation is executed. According to this configuration, since the set operation reservation can be freely released, convenience for the user is improved.

  According to the present invention, the device can be operated easily.

The block diagram of the apparatus control system of one Embodiment. The communication area figure of the LF radio wave formed outside the vehicle. Operation diagram when the door is automatically opened by communication with the tag. The operation | movement figure when putting an electronic key into reservation mode. Schematic when a door is opened by a reserved door opening function. Explanatory drawing which shows the outline | summary of registration of tag information.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the device control system will be described with reference to FIGS.
As shown in FIG. 1, the vehicle 1 includes an electronic key system 3 that performs electronic ID verification with the electronic key 2. The electronic key system 3 is a key operation-free system that executes ID collation by narrowband wireless (communication distance: 1 to several meters) triggered by communication from the vehicle 1. Hereinafter, the ID verification of the key operation free system is referred to as “smart verification”, and the communication is referred to as “smart communication”.

  The vehicle 1 includes a verification ECU (Electronic Control Unit) 4 that confirms the validity of the electronic key 2 in ID verification, a body ECU 5 that manages the power supply of the on-vehicle electrical components, and an engine ECU 6 that controls the engine 7. These ECUs are connected through a communication line 8 in the vehicle. The communication line 8 is a CAN (Controller Area Network) or a LIN (Local Interconnect Network). The electronic key ID is written and stored in the memory 9 of the verification ECU 4 as the ID of the electronic key 2 registered in the vehicle 1.

  The vehicle 1 includes an in-vehicle transmitter 10 capable of transmitting ID verification radio waves outside the vehicle, an in-vehicle transmitter 11 capable of transmitting ID verification radio waves into the vehicle, and a vehicle receiver 12 capable of receiving radio waves from the electronic key 2. With. The external transmitter 10, the in-vehicle transmitter 11, and the vehicle receiver 12 are connected to the verification ECU 4 and their operations are managed. The vehicle-mounted transmitter 10 and the vehicle-mounted transmitter 11 can transmit LF (Low Frequency) band radio waves. The vehicle receiver 12 can receive radio waves in the UHF (Ultra High Frequency) band. The body ECU 5 controls the operation of the door lock mechanism 14 that is a mechanical part that switches between locking and unlocking of the door 13 based on a command from the verification ECU 4.

  The vehicle 1 includes an engine switch 15 that is operated when the vehicle power source is switched. The engine switch 15 is a push-type momentary switch. The verification ECU 4 determines the power supply state based on the detection signal input from the engine switch 15, and switches the vehicle power supply so as to take that state. The power state includes IG off, ACC on, IG on, and engine start.

  The electronic key 2 includes a key control unit 16 that controls the operation of the electronic key 2, a reception unit 17 that can receive radio waves transmitted from the vehicle 1, and a transmission unit 18 that can transmit radio waves to the vehicle 1. An electronic key ID used for ID verification with the vehicle 1 is written and saved in the memory 19 of the key control unit 16. The receiving unit 17 can receive LF radio waves. The transmitter 18 can transmit UHF radio waves.

  When the transmitter 10 outside the vehicle forms a communication area for LF radio waves outside the vehicle, when the electronic key 2 enters this communication area, smart communication is established outside the vehicle and smart verification outside the vehicle is started. The smart verification outside the vehicle includes vehicle code verification for authenticating a unique vehicle code of the vehicle 1, challenge response authentication using an encryption key, and electronic key ID verification for authenticating an electronic key ID. The verification ECU 4 confirms whether or not all of these verifications are established in the electronic key 2 located outside the vehicle at the time of smart verification outside the vehicle. And if collation ECU4 confirms that in-vehicle smart collation is materialized, it will permit or perform locking / unlocking of door 13. FIG.

  In addition, when the electronic key 2 enters the communication area of the in-vehicle transmitter 11, the verification ECU 4 establishes smart communication in the vehicle and starts smart verification in the vehicle. In the in-vehicle smart collation, various collations similar to the out-of-vehicle smart collation are executed. When the verification ECU 4 confirms that the in-vehicle smart verification is established, the verification ECU 4 permits the transition operation of the vehicle power source by the operation of the engine switch 15.

  The electronic key system 3 includes a device operation reservation function (device control system 23) that controls the operation of the device 22 provided in the communication target 21 of the electronic key 2. In this example, the communication target 21 is the vehicle 1, and the operation of the device 22 is an opening operation of the door (vehicle door) 13. The device control system 23 of this example activates the device 22 based on the tag information Dt acquired from the tag 24 when ID verification is established, and then prepares for the device 22 to be activated again. The operation is reserved in advance for the operation.

  The tag 24 includes a tag control unit 25 that controls the operation of the tag 24, a communication antenna 26 that executes transmission and reception of radio waves in the tag 24, and a memory 27 that stores tag information Dt. The communication antenna 26 is preferably near field communication (near field communication) such as RFID (Radio Frequency IDentification) and NFC (Near Field Communication). The tag 24 is attached to a user's luggage, for example. The tag information Dt is, for example, a door opening / closing location (which door 13 is opened / closed when smart verification is established in the communication area of the vehicle 1), and whether a seat (driver's seat, front passenger seat, rear seat, etc.) is moved. Etc., and a group of information of various user settings.

  The vehicle 1 includes a communication antenna 28 that performs wireless communication with the tag 24. The communication antenna 28 can perform short-range wireless communication with the communication antenna 26 of the tag 24. The communication antenna 28 of the vehicle 1 is preferably attached to, for example, the door (driver's seat door, back door, etc.) 13 of the vehicle 1 or the vicinity of the door 13 (vehicle body pillar, etc.). The short-range wireless communication is preferably performed immediately after the smart communication, and is repeatedly performed in the same manner every time the smart communication is repeated. It is assumed that the short-range wireless communication of this example is set in a range where radio waves reach several meters.

  The device control system 23 includes an information acquisition unit 30 that acquires tag information Dt stored in the tag 24. The information acquisition unit 30 is provided in the verification ECU 4. The information acquisition unit 30 acquires the tag information Dt from the tag 24 by performing communication with the tag 24 in addition to the ID verification communication between the communication target 21 and the electronic key 2.

  The device control system 23 includes a reservation execution unit 31 that makes a reservation for the operation of the device 22 based on the read tag information Dt. The reservation execution unit 31 is provided in the verification ECU 4. When the device 22 based on the received tag information Dt is activated, the reservation executing unit 31 reserves the device 22 for operation in preparation for automatically operating the same device 22 thereafter. When it is determined that an operation reservation is necessary, the reservation execution unit 31 of the present example wirelessly transmits an operation reservation request Sa necessary for putting an operation summary into the electronic key 2 to the electronic key 2. When the electronic key 2 receives the operation reservation request Sa from the vehicle 1, the electronic key 2 sets a reservation bit based on the request, and enters a state where the device 22 can perform the reservation operation.

Next, the operation of the device control system 23 will be described with reference to FIGS.
[Specific example of a series of operation processes]
As shown in FIG. 2, a plurality of communication areas E are formed outside the vehicle by a plurality of vehicle-mounted transmitters 10 mounted on the vehicle 1. In the case of this example, the first communication area Ea formed by the outside transmitter 10a installed at the driver's seat door, the second communication area Eb formed by the outside transmitter 10b installed at the right rear door, and the assistant The third communication area Ec formed by the outside transmitter 10c installed at the seat door, the fourth communication area Ed formed by the outside transmitter 10d installed at the left rear door, and the back door 13e. There is a communication area Ee near the back door formed by the outside transmitter 10e.

  As shown in FIG. 3, it is assumed that a user who is scheduled to get on moves to the rear of the vehicle 1 to open the back door 13 e in order to put luggage or the like into the trunk of the vehicle (parked vehicle) 1. At this time, when the electronic key 2 enters the communication area Ee near the back door, the electronic key 2 transmits the LF radio wave in the communication area Ee near the back door between the electronic key 2 located near the back door 13e and the vehicle 1. Smart collation (backdoor neighborhood smart collation) that is started upon reception is executed. If the electronic key 2 for communication is a regular key, the smart collation near backdoor shifts to establishment.

  Further, when the information acquisition unit 30 confirms that the smart verification is established, the information acquisition unit 30 starts an operation of acquiring the tag information Dt from the tag 24 attached to the luggage or the like. More specifically, the information acquisition unit 30 sends a tag information transmission request Sb that causes the tag 24 to transmit the tag information Dt following the transmission of the driving radio wave that activates the tag 24 in the standby state from the communication antenna 28. It transmits to the tag 24 by near field radio. When the tag 24 receives the tag information transmission request Sb, the tag 24 reads the tag information Dt stored in the memory 27 and transmits it to the vehicle 1 from the communication antenna 26 by short-range radio. The vehicle 1 receives the tag information Dt transmitted from the tag 24 by the communication antenna 28 and holds it in the memory 9.

  The verification ECU 4 controls the equipment 22 mounted on the vehicle based on the received tag information Dt. In this example, the closed back door 13e is unlocked and opened. That is, the back door 13e is opened only by the user approaching the back door 13e. Therefore, even if both hands of the user are blocked by luggage or the like, the back door 13e is automatically opened, which is convenient.

  As illustrated in FIG. 4, the reservation execution unit 31 operates the device 22 specified by the tag information Dt based on the tag information Dt held in the memory 9 after the operation of the device 22 (after the door 13 is opened). Make a reservation for operation. More specifically, the reservation execution unit 31 wirelessly transmits an operation reservation request Sa serving as a trigger for making a reservation for the operation of the device 22 that has just been operated from the vehicle transmitter 10 (10e) to the electronic key 2. . The operation reservation request Sa may be transmitted to the electronic key 2 using hardware of the electronic key system 3. The operation reservation request Sa is a kind of trigger information necessary for making a reservation for the device 22 associated with the tag information Dt for the device operation reservation function provided in the electronic key 2. The operation reservation request Sa of this example is a back door reservation open request for opening the back door 13e.

  When receiving the operation reservation request Sa transmitted from the external transmitter 10e by the receiving unit 17, the electronic key 2 shifts to the “reservation mode”, for example, by setting a reservation bit. That is, a reservation for device operation is entered in the electronic key 2. For example, if an operation instruction for the back door reservation open function of the back door 13 e is received, the back door reservation open function is turned on in the electronic key 2.

As shown in FIG. 5, it is assumed that after driving the vehicle, the user gets off and approaches the back door 13e with the electronic key 2 to open the back door 13e. By the way, in the vehicle 1, radio wave transmission is intermittently performed from each vehicle-mounted transmitter 10 in order to confirm in which communication area E smart communication is established when the vehicle is stopped. As described above, since smart communication is repeatedly executed regularly or irregularly, when the electronic key 2 approaches the vicinity of the back door 13e, the back door vicinity smart verification is executed between the vehicle 1 and the electronic key 2. Further, the electronic key 2, which are set to "reservation mode", UHF in the communication over enough for smart communication, the operation demand Sc to request the start of operation of the vehicle apparatus (opening operation of the back door 13e) in the vehicle 1 Send.

  When the verification ECU 4 confirms that the smart verification near the back door is established, the verification ECU 4 executes an operation based on the operation request Sc received from the electronic key 2. In other words, the verification ECU 4 operates the in-vehicle device whose operation is instructed by the received operation request Sc. For example, if the operation request Sc conforms to the back door open function, the locked back door 13e is opened. That is, the back door 13e is automatically opened by the back door reservation opening function of the vehicle 1. For this reason, after the user gets off, the back door 13e is automatically opened only by approaching the back door 13e, which is convenient.

[Customize settings]
As shown in FIG. 6, the tag information Dt stored in the tag 24 may be previously written in the memory 9 by default, but can be freely changed by user settings. As a specific example, an application is started up on a terminal 35 such as a high-function telephone possessed by the user, and the specific operation content of the device 22 to be operated is input. After the input, the terminal 35 communicates with the tag 24 and the input data relating to the control of the device 22 is registered in the tag 24. Thereby, it is possible to freely rewrite the tag information Dt, such as changing the content of the device control to, for example, an opening operation of the slide door or a lift control of the lift of the welfare vehicle.

According to the configuration of the present embodiment, the following effects can be obtained.
(1) In addition to wireless ID verification (smart verification) between the communication target 21 (vehicle 1) and the electronic key 2, the tag 24 also performs communication, and from this tag 24, the device 22 (the door of the vehicle 1) The tag information Dt regarding the operation of 13) is acquired. Then, the device 22 is operated based on the tag information Dt, and a reservation is made in advance for the operation of the device 22 in preparation for the operation of the device 22 thereafter. In this example, the electronic key 2 enters a reservation mode for door opening operation. For this reason, when the user approaches the communication target 21 (vehicle 1) to activate the device 22 next time, the device 22 automatically starts to operate according to the reservation mode set in the electronic key 2. Therefore, since it is not necessary to impose a separate operation on the user regarding the operation of the device 22, the operation of the device 22 can be performed easily.

  (2) The operation reservation is set by switching the electronic key 2 to the reservation mode. Therefore, when setting an operation reservation, for example, it is not necessary to impose a load-intensive process such as storing the set state in the communication target 21 (vehicle 1) for a long time.

  (3) The operation reservation target is an opening operation of the door 13 of the vehicle 1. Therefore, since the door 13 opens by itself only by the user approaching, it is possible to ensure convenience when opening the door 13.

  (4) Narrow band wireless is used for communication of the communication target 21 and ID verification (smart verification) of the electronic key 2, and short-range wireless communication is used for communication between the communication target 21 and the tag 24. In this way, if the ID verification communication and the tag 24 communication are of different types, the communication does not interfere with the other party.

Note that the embodiment is not limited to the configuration described so far, and may be modified as follows.
The device control system 23 may be provided with a reservation canceling unit 36 (see FIG. 1) that can cancel the operation reservation once set. The reservation cancellation unit 36 is preferably provided, for example, in the verification ECU 4. The reservation canceling unit 36 cancels the reservation set by the reservation executing unit 31 when a specific operation is executed. Examples of the specific operation necessary for canceling the reservation include an example in which the outside door handle is operated in a predetermined order and the number of times, or the release operation is performed by the car navigation system in the vehicle. In this way, the set operation reservation can be released freely, which improves convenience for the user.

  -When the unlock button of the electronic key 2 is operated and the back door 13e is opened, the tag information Dt of the tag 24 is read, and a process for making an operation reservation may be executed based on this.

It is also possible that the door automatic opening function is turned on when the door 13 is closed and the door 13 is closed, and the door 13 is automatically opened when returning to the vehicle 1 after completing the necessary operation.
The operation reservation request Sa is not limited to being transmitted after the completion of smart communication, but may be transmitted to the electronic key 2 when the door 13 is closed, for example.

-When an operation reservation is set, it may be notified by an indicator or the like in the vehicle 1 or the electronic key 2 that a reservation has been made.
-You may set a time limit for the operation reservation.

  Even if the operation reservation is turned on, the reservation may be canceled if, for example, the vibration sensor in the electronic key 2 detects that there is no vibration for a certain period of time. This contributes to power saving because the reservation can be canceled assuming that there is no intention to operate.

  The key operation free system determines the position of the electronic key 2 inside and outside the vehicle by, for example, arranging transmission antennas on the right and left sides of the vehicle body and checking the response of the electronic key 2 to radio waves transmitted from these antennas. You may do it.

The key operation free system is not limited to different radio wave frequencies in the forward communication and the backward communication, and may be the same.
The electronic key system 3 is not limited to a key operation free system, and can be changed as appropriate to other systems.

  ID verification that imposes establishment before entering the reservation operation is not limited to smart verification, but can be changed to various types of authentication as long as pairing between the vehicle 1 and the electronic key 2 can be confirmed. .

The communication between the communication target 21 and the tag 24 is not limited to short-range wireless communication, and can be changed to other types of communication.
The communication of ID verification and the communication of the tag 24 are not limited to using different communication methods, and may be the same, for example, both are short-range wireless.

In setting the operation reservation, the reservation may be managed on the communication target 21 side, for example, by setting a reservation flag (reservation bit) on the communication target 21 (vehicle 1).
The device 22 that is the target of the operation reservation is not limited to the back door 13e, the slide door, and the lift of the welfare vehicle, but can be changed to various devices and apparatuses.

  The communication target 21 is not limited to the vehicle 1 and can be changed to another device or apparatus.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Vehicle which is an example of communication object, 2 ... Electronic key, 13 ... Door which is an example of apparatus, 13e ... Back door which is an example of apparatus, 14 ... Door lock mechanism which is an example of apparatus, 21 ... Communication object, 22 ... device, 23 ... device control system, 24 ... tag, 30 ... information acquisition unit, 31 ... reservation execution unit, 36 ... reservation release unit, Dt ... tag information, Sc ... operation request.

Claims (4)

In the device control system that controls the operation of the device provided in the communication target of the electronic key,
In addition to ID verification between the communication target and the electronic key, a tag information acquisition unit that executes communication with a tag that can communicate with the communication target and acquires tag information related to operation of the device from the tag;
When a device based on the tag information is operated on the condition that the ID verification is established, a reservation execution unit that reserves the operation for the device is prepared in preparation for automatically operating the device thereafter .
The reservation execution unit is provided in the communication target, and reserves the operation of the device by switching the electronic key to a reservation mode wirelessly,
When the electronic key performs a wireless ID verification with the communication target after the reservation setting, if the electronic key is in the reservation mode, the operation request of the device to be reserved is wirelessly set as the communication target. By transmitting , the apparatus control system characterized by automatically operating the apparatus in a situation where the ID verification is established . The device control system according to claim 1, wherein the communication target is a vehicle, the device is a door of the vehicle, and the operation of the device is an opening operation of the door. The communication target and the electronic key executes the ID collation through short range wireless, the tag device control system according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that communicating with the communication target through the near field wireless. The device control system according to any one of claims 1 to 3 , further comprising a reservation canceling unit that cancels the reservation set by the reservation executing unit when a specific operation is performed. .